Railroad-crossing.



- A.JAGKULVIG a. C. E. HART. RAILROAD CROSSING.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 20. 1912.

1,065,251 Patented June 17,1913.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE."

ANTHONY JACKULVIC AND CHARLES E. HART, OF TRENTON, NEW' JERSEY.

RAILROAD-CROSSING.

T 0 all whom,A it may concern:

Be it known that we, ANTHONY JACKUL- vic and CHARLES E. HART, citizens of the United States, residing at Trenton, in the county of Mercer and State of New Jersey, have invented new and useful Improvements' in Railroad-Crossings, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in railroad crossings and especially with reference to the provision of pivotally mounted bridging members to close the gaps in t-he rails at the crossing so as to render such portions of the track smooth and prevent pounding of the t'rain wheels at the crossing and also with reference to the provisio-n of automatically operating means to lock the bridging members in place and pre- `vent them from accidentally turning, the invention consisting in the construction, combination and arrangement of devices hereinafter described and claimed.

-In the accompanying drawing: Figure 1 is a plan of a railroad crossing constructed in accordance with our invention. Fig. 2 is a detail sectional view on the plane indicated by the line z a of Fig. 1.

For the purposes of this specification, we show a crossing comprising intersecting track rails 1 2 and intersecting slot rails 3 4. Under the intersecting portions of the track rails are foundation plates 5.

In accordance with our invention, the rails are provided with circular seats 6 at the points of intersection and the bottoms of the said seats are preferably and are here shown as being of inverted conical form. At the center of each seat in the bottom thereof is a threaded opening S and appropriately spaced from the said opening and on opposite sides thereof are vertical openings 9. In each seat or space between the contiguous rail ends is a pivotally arranged bridge bar or member 10 whichl is mounted on a pivot pin 11, the lower end of the said pivot pin being screwed in one of the openings 8 and its upper end being provided with a diametrically enlarged head 12. The opening of each bridge piece through which its pivot pin extends has a countersink 13 in its upper side, the said countersink being of a size and shape adapting it to receive the head 12 and to allow of slight vertical movement of the bridge member. The upper side of each bridge member is normally plane or level with the upper Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed August 20, 1912.

Patented June 17,1913.

Serial No. 716,043.

sides of the crossing rails and each bridge member is provided with a pair of locking points 1-t which extend downwardly therefrom and are preferably of inverted conical form, the locking points projecting from the under side of each bridge member and being here shown as formed by pins which are secured in openings in the bridge members. These locking points register with and enter the upper ends of the openings 9 when the bridge members aline with anv of the rails. The bridge members correlspond in width with the track rails and are arranged to lie parallel therewith.

Assuming that a train has passed the crossing on the track 1, all the bridge members will be parallel with the rails 1 3. IVhen a train approaches the crossing on the track 2, its advance wheels and plow strike the bridge members and turn them parallel with the rails 2 so that the bridge members close the caps between the meeting ends of the rail members 2 and between said rail members and the slot rail 4, the bridge members being pivotally movable and being operated by the flanges of the wheels and by the plow as will be understood.

Owing to the provision of the countersink 13, the headed pivot pins, the locking points 14 and the openings 9, each bridge member as it describes its initial pivotal movement is first raised slightly by the camming action of the points 14 and the sides of the openings 9 and as it reaches the limit of its pivotal movement it again drops when its locking points reach the openings 9 of the intersecting rails and, hence, the bridge members while free to be turned by the wheels and plows of the trains are prevented from accidentally turning, being locked in either position which they may assume by their own gravity and the engagement of their locking points with the seats formed by the upper ends of the openings 9.

vWe claim 1. In a railway crossing, intersecting rails providing a seat at the point of intersection and locking recesses in the bottom of the seat, and a bridge member pivotally mounted in the said seat and also for slight vertical movement, the said bridge member being provided on its under side with locking points to engage the recesses in the bottom of the seat at the limit of the pivotal movement of said bridge member.

2. In a railway crossing, intersecting track members havingv o circuler seat :it the point of intersection and recesses in the bottom of said seat in line with the respective trel rails7 in combination with fr pivot pin located in the center of the seid recess and having` mi enlarged head et its upper enel7 und :t bridge member fitted in seid seat for pivotal movement, having e conntersink in its upper side for the heed of seid pivot pin and provided on its lower side with locking points which depend therefrom enel serve by comming action with the seid recesses in the bottom of the seat to 'aise seid bridge member at the beginning of each pivotal movement thereof and thereby release the i5 same.

In testimony whereof We eilix our signetures in presence of tWo witnesses.

ANTHONY JACKULVIC. CHARLES E. HART.

l/Vitnesses VViLLIAM. J. VALSH, H. E. WALSH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of atents, Washington, D. C. 

